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This guide by the Center for International Environmental Law provides negotiators and allies with a framework for leveraging a July 23, 2025, International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion (AO) during COP30. The document outlines the ICJ's findings that climate action is a legal duty and provides specific strategies for applying these legal obligations to COP30 agenda items, including finance, mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage.

This report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) analyzes the European Commission's October 2020 "Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability." The document evaluates the Strategy's potential to create a "toxic-free environment" and provides recommendations for the EU to lead global chemicals management by strengthening international standards, eliminating double standards in exports, and implementing rigorous internal regulations on hazardous substances.

The 'Declaração sobre Resíduos Contendo Nanomateriais' is a statement signed by various civil society organizations and research institutes calling for a precautionary approach to the management of waste containing manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs). The document highlights the risks associated with the increasing use of MNMs in consumer, industrial, and medical products, emphasizing the need for producer responsibility, restricted transboundary movement of such waste, and the creation of public registries to monitor waste flows, particularly within the European Union.

This statement, signed by various civil society organizations, calls for a precautionary approach to managing waste containing manufactured nanomaterials (NM) to prevent adverse effects on human health and the environment.

This report provides recommendations for integrating human rights, social, and environmental principles into the implementation modalities of the Paris Agreement. It argues that climate action must be combined with existing international obligations to ensure a just transition, protect vulnerable populations, and maintain ecosystem integrity.

This report argues that the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement depends on integrating human rights and social and environmental principles into the 'Paris Rulebook.' It emphasizes that climate action must respect the rights of indigenous peoples, ensure gender equality, safeguard food security, promote a just transition for workers, and maintain ecosystem integrity to ensure policy coherence and sustainable results.

This briefing paper by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and partners argues that the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement depends on the integration of human rights and social and environmental principles into the 'Paris Rule Book'. The document outlines how principles such as gender equality, indigenous rights, and a just transition should be embedded into Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Adaptation Communications, the Transparency Framework, and the Global Stocktake to ensure policy coherence and protect vulnerable populations.

This report examines the governance of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), focusing on the evolution of public access to information, participation in decision-making, and the establishment of accountability mechanisms. The authors argue that while MDBs have moved toward greater transparency due to external pressure, these processes remain largely ad hoc and inconsistent, lacking a systematic framework for citizen-based rights.

This report by the Center for International Environmental Law provides an overview of the risks and persecution faced by land and environmental rights defenders in 2013. It details how individuals protecting natural resources and indigenous rights are targeted by state forces and non-state actors, including corporations and organized crime, often in the context of large-scale investment projects and extractive industries.

This briefing note, produced by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) in collaboration with the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) and Inclusiva, examines the intersection of disability rights and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It provides a reference guide for governments and stakeholders, compiling relevant international legal frameworks and specific UNFCCC decisions to ensure that persons with disabilities are included in climate mitigation, adaptation, and disaster risk reduction efforts.

This research paper by Maria Julia Oliva of the Center for International Environmental Law examines the 'Development Agenda' of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Doha Work Programme. The author evaluates whether the subsequent July framework maintains the original commitment to prioritize the needs of developing countries, specifically analyzing sectors such as agriculture, non-agricultural market access (NAMA), services, and the intersection of trade and environment.

This briefing analyzes the legal arguments and international law frameworks relevant to the WTO dispute 'EC – Biotech', specifically focusing on the definition of risk assessments (RA) under the SPS Agreement and the potential influence of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

This policy brief argues that Export Credit Agencies (ECAs), particularly those of G7 countries, prioritize energy-intensive exports over renewable energy and operate without the environmental and social safeguards required of multilateral development banks. It notes a failure by the OECD and G8 to establish binding guidelines and recommends that ECAs adopt rigorous standards, increase transparency, and set a 20% target for renewable energy and energy efficiency by 2006.

This report by the Center for International Environmental Law, prepared for the United Nations Environment Programme, evaluates the effectiveness of trade and positive measures within the Montreal Protocol. It analyzes how these mechanisms—ranging from import/export bans on ozone-depleting substances (ODS) to financial assistance for developing nations—have driven near-universal ratification and compliance to reduce global emissions of controlled substances.

This briefing by the Center for International Environmental Law examines the impact of intellectual property (IP) provisions in EFTA Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), specifically focusing on how TRIPS-Plus standards in the EFTA-Egypt FTA may restrict access to medicines and threaten food security through seed restrictions.

The policy brief outlines strategies to ensure the 'widest and most effective participation possible' in the negotiations for a global treaty to end plastic pollution. It identifies systemic barriers in current UN processes—such as restrictive accreditation, limited speaking rights, language gaps, and lack of funding—and recommends adopting more open models (like the Escazú Agreement) to include frontline stakeholders, including waste pickers, Indigenous Peoples, and youth.

The 'Environmental Leaders’ Statement on Civil and Human Rights, Social Justice and an Inclusive Economy' is a solidarity declaration by leaders of the U.S. environmental movement. The signatories argue that the protection of the planet is inextricably linked to the defense of human rights and social justice, condemning the rise of racist and violent acts following the U.S. election.

In this 1994 testimony, Durwood Zaelke of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) argues that the global economic system fails the environment by externalizing costs. He proposes "competitive sustainability," a model that uses trade law and market forces to drive the upward harmonization of environmental standards. Key recommendations include the use of countervailing duties to offset environmental subsidies, the adoption of life cycle analysis and green labelling, and the creation of an international Administrative Procedures Act to enhance enforcement and NGO participation.

A coalition of environmental organizations provides detailed recommendations to the U.S. government on implementing Executive Order 13141. They argue for the full integration of environmental reviews into all stages of trade negotiations, the adoption of a comprehensive analytical framework that considers global and cumulative impacts (including greenhouse gas emissions), and a functional approach to identifying agreements that require scrutiny. The coalition emphasizes the need for transparency, public participation, and the use of specialized agency expertise over the limited capacity of the USTR.

This policy brief critiques the European Union's (EU) proposed intellectual property (IP) provisions within Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) for African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries. The author argues that the proposals impose restrictive standards on copyright, plant variety protection, and enforcement that exceed TRIPS Agreement requirements and threaten the development and public interest of ACP nations.